'There should be a cycle rent station up here.'

After arriving to the rail station square on the highest point of the city, Hem looked around to rent a hover cycle. That light transport looked like a motorbike, with its wheels replaced with horizontal disks, that hovered a half a meter off the ground.

But to his dismay, every single vehicle already taken by other city guests.

'We can go on a trip around the city if you want. And go there tomorrow.'

Tsune counted the reasons for going that far on foot. The most obvious, and the one that left a bad taste in her mouth, was that the day could conspire against her again if she refused to follow Rhodes's script. And engineer another situation to push her along, one that she might've not recognized.

But that reason was discarded soon after. if she accepted that the world conspired against her, even in the minor details like making her go there on foot, she would seriously start to question her sanity.

And If this world's events were this tied to the game, then it would've been impossible for her to even choose the combiner mech, much less find a team.

Additionally, the world around her made too much sense to accept that the hangar was there only for her to find it.

And if she if had to be honest, not many things could entice her more than Hem's suggestion to meet the classic series pilot.

She wanted to ask him about all of those dangerous situations he escaped off screen because the studio didn't have the budget to show them. If only she would able to ask what happened to several of her favorite characters that were dropped due to contract expirations. She would be delighted to learn all of that.

'We can walk there.'

Catching where he looked, she folded her arms under her bust and continued.

'It's okay, It wont be too hard even with these.'

She couldn't see his face, but she could swear she could see his blush even from behind.

-

Leaving the city behind, they turned away from the paved road to a steep overgrown path.

Tsune did her best to avoid the wild plants, that either stuck their tiny hook seeds to her clothes, or scratched her legs through artificial tears in her pants. And what's worse, there was no detour, as nobody used this road in decades.

When she stopped again to clean her clothes, the girl also decided to lift her hair, something she should've done a long time ago. While tying her long hair in a knot, she heard Hem's voice.

'If you want, you can ask me about science. We still have a long way to go and you probably have something you want to know as a pilot.'

"Hmmm. What I'm interested in as a pilot?"

The blonde did have several ideas she could bounce off somebody. Preferably who wasn't her father but still knew a lot about mechs.

Unfortunately, those questions were about her Gunner designs and with her decision to change the robot type, she no longer had a use for them.

But, answers about the events that she saw in the game could be useful. Even if she looked weird, she could probably handwave it away. And if those things did exist here, she would know who to ask from now on.

'Sure. What do you know about pure gravitons?'

'Pure? I'm not sure about that, but gravitons are used by airspace battleships to fly and fight.'

'How about blue energy?'

'I don't know that one either... '

After several minutes of walking in silence, Hem spoke again.

'If I may ask, what kind of person is your father? I've always admired his work.'

'Reasonable, but pretty scary? I mean, he gave me an assistant device so advanced that I've spent the teamwork year all by myself. And the academy even made a special arrangement for the exam. Then he went all *I can't take away your first invention* and left me alone.'

"Mostly alone. Once I go back, I'll tell him to stop interfering with people over my head."

'Are those things something you work on? Then I should be the one asking questions about science.'

The boy awkwardly laughed as ask these questions. And Tsune answered in an upbeat manner to handwave them away as she planned.

'I have no idea about those things either. its just something I saw once. I'm not even sure they were real.'

-

'Is that it?'

Growing seriously tired, Tsune was glad to see sunlight reflect off a rusty metal roof. It was still several hundred meters away and then she had to deal with ground that curved downwards, but she could do it. Although if the decline was steep, then a staircase would make things easier.

As expected, they saw an old stone staircase. It was not as long as she feared and it lead straight to a square building made from old metal sheets. Given its ten storey height and the huge gates on its sea side, it was clear that it was an old mech hangar.

But looking at it from a closer distance, calling it old was an understimation. The hangar looked like it came from the previous century, as its walls were full of cracks and holes from misplaced and misshapen sheets.

Most of them were patched up with more rusty metal or gray cloth, but the time was merciless to those as well, and the thick pillars and beams were visible underneath.

'Doesn't look like much. Are you sure anyone is there?'

Asking that, Tsune looked around for a boulder to sit on, but the plateau was completely empty. Resisting the idea to sit on the ground, lest she would meet a sharp and rusty debris, she tried to bring relief to her back by stretching.

'Ah, my back is killing me.'

Finally clued in about her condition, the boy also turned around to search. Met with similar success, he reluctantly went to the gates and knocked.

After he heard nothing, he hit the metal with his palm, making the old metal loudly rattle. But nothing happened, aside from causing something small to fall off on the other side.

Several minutes worth of waiting later, he gathered enough courage. He moved a piece of cloth that covered a window sized crack in the gates and climbed in.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

-

Eventually, a piece of the gate shuddered and screeched. Then screeched again when Hem put significant effort to rotate the rusty door on its hinges.

'The place looks abandoned, but the mech is inside. Want to take a look?'

Inside, the building was as dirty as on the outside. Walls had lines of old tables and old mechanisms that were covered by dried oil stains, scraps and burn marks. And the nearest ones were buried under piles of metal wire and springs that dangerously overhang the floor.

Carefully walking through the mess, Tsune was mindful of the serrated metal trash on the floor. And soon she found a better angle to look at the shadowed colossus in the center.

The rays of sunlight, that got through the holes, barely allowed her to see the details but it was enough to see that it was like a toy. An enourmous sized toy, that destroyed a hundred of enemies, with a barrel shaped body, stumpy legs and long arms that ended in three fingered claws.

Hem slapped the nearby stumpy leg with pride in his voice.

'So, how do you like it, Tsune? Its genuine Zed alloy antique, you wont see anything like this today.'

'Its cool! I've often fantasized about how it'd look when I watched the show.'

'I've got something even cooler.'

The boy stepped to the side to reveal a stand behind him. And then made a theatrical welcome gesture as he pointed at its center.

It was a purple diamond shaped crystal that would barely fit into both of her hands.

'Its one of the mech's powerplants! And its one of those weird ones that were made before the unification standards!'

The girl bent over to look at the rare treasure. At first she thought it was just her imagination. But the longer she looked at its glistening surfaces, the more she believed that the light was moving inside. And that the reflection and flows of lights were a part of a vision. It was a fleeting feeling, as if she tried to remember the dream she just had.

'And even that is not all!'

Hem's words pulled her out the reverie and she looked away. The boy fiddled with a panel on the robot's leg. Soon something clicked on the inside of it.

Clicks continued as ladder grips popped out of the leg, went up the body and ended when they made a ladder all the way to the top of the shoulder.

'Is that okay? What if he returns?'

'I doubt he's even alive, I mean look at this mess.'

Wavering, Tsune delayed her answer. The safest option was to just leave, but she would lie if she said she didn't want to see the cockpit she always saw from a single angle. And even if he was around, the hero pilot wasn't somebody who would get mad at them. 

'I'm coming.'

-

The robot head was a half sphere that rounded up the flat barrel torso. And while big outside, the cockpit itself was tiny, making the girl almost crawl through the access chute at the bottom. And once inside and standing, she saw that the only chair was already taken by Hem.

'Can you move? I can't see anything from here.'

The boy turned to her with a gulp and started to answer. But he gave himself away with how he rushed from one sentence to another.

'There's nowhere to move here. If you want, we can exit and then you'll enter first. I'll be fine talking from the outside.'

"Come on, man. Was this really your plan all along? Was this even yours?"

Needless to say, the girl was not pleased with how transparent his intentions were, but to her surprise she also felt a small amount of pity. But willing to give him the benefit of doubt, she chose to confirm her suspicion first.

'Did Eider put you up to this?'

When his face became visibly red even in the hangar's dim lighting. And he fumbled as he tried to get out of the chair, she knew she hit the jackpot.

'Stay where you are. Going through that door is a pain.'

Twisting her body in an acrobatic move, the blonde slipped right on top of Hem. The chair was made for a bigger man than she expected, so it wasn't nearly as cramped as she feared.

After a delightful minute of looking around the controls and mentally comparing it to the show, the blonde noticed that the boy's breathing grew ragged.

'Am I too heavy?'

'N-no, of course not. I barely feel your weight.'

Shrugging, Tsune tried to shift herself further away from him and continued.

'So, could I move this without my assistant device?'

'Eh? You should know that much, right?'

'I mean, can I pilot it as is?'

'Oh.'

The boy took out a weird looking tablet and carefully slipped his hands past her sides to connect it to the console. But as soon as the connection sign appeared on its screen, an alarm echoed in the hangar.

Seconds later, a loud metal sound came from the ground and a loud voice reached all the way to the cockpit.

'Who's there? Get out before I call law enforcement!'

-

Several minutes later, the two stood near the basement hatch door and an old man angrily walked in circles.

'To think that my robot would become a date spot! For tourists!'

'It wasn't a date!'

Tsune tried to object, but the man immediately cut her off, shaking his wrinkly fist in the air.

'Silence! What were you trying to do there if it wasn't dating?'

'If you confess that you tried to steal it right now, I'll be lenient and ask the law enforcement to go easy on you.'

'There's no way we could steal it. She doesn't have her assistant device and I'm from support classes.'

This time it was Hem who tried to object. He even made a step forward to shield the girl.

'Doesn't have an assistant device? So, you wanted to steal mine? Then you should demand your money back because whoever sold you this lead is a con artist. My device is already stolen.'

The long loud speech probably took too much of him, as the man suddenly almost doubled over in a fit of heavy coughing.

Losing no time, Hem took her hand and pulled her out of the open exit.

'We need to get away before he recovers.'

'But what about him?'

'Come on, what if he does call the enforcers.'